DISASTER AND DISASTER RISK

Disaster is defined as “a sudden, calamitous event, bringing great damage, loss,

destruction and devastation to life and property”. Its origin can be natural, such as
earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes, or of human origin, such as explosions, nuclear
accidents and terrorist acts.

From a socio-cultural perspective, disaster is defined as “a serious disruption of

the functioning of society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses,
which exceed the ability of the affected people to cope, using their human resources.

Relative to disaster, a salient factor that needs to be addressed properly is

disaster risk. Disaster risk is defined as “the probability that a community’s structure or
geographic area is to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of hazardous area”. In
other words, disaster risk signifies the possibility of adverse effects in the future. It is
derived from the interaction of social and environmental processes, from the
combination of physical hazards and the vulnerability of exposed elements.

Nature of Disasters

Disasters are of two types – ‘natural’ and ‘human-made’. Based on the devastation,
these are further classified into major or minor natural disasters and major or minor
man-made disasters.

Natural Disasters – These originates from the different “forces” of nature (geological,
meteorological, hydrometeorological and biological). Natural disasters such as
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, and cyclones affect many countries in Asia
particularly the Philippines.

Human-made Disasters – These disasters occur due to people’s actions against

human, material and environment. These include transport and industrial accidents,
such as air and train crashes, chemical spills, and building collapses. Terrorism is also
categorized as human-made disaster.

Types of Disasters

Disasters can take many different forms and the duration can range from an hour
to days or weeks of ongoing destruction. Below is a list of the various types of disasters,
both natural and human-made or technological in nature that can impact a community.

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Natural Types of Disasters

 Agricultural diseases and pests

 Storm surge
 Drought and water shortage – El Niño
 Earthquakes
 Hurricanes and tropical storms
 Landslide and debris flow
 Thunderstorms and lightning
 Tornadoes
 Tsunamis
 Wildfires
 Sinkholes
 Emergency diseases (pandemic influenza)
 Extreme heat
 Floods and flash floods
 La Niña

Human-Made and Technological Types of Disasters

 Hazardous materials
 Power service disruption and blackout
 Nuclear power plant and nuclear blast
 Radiological emergencies
 Chemical threat and biological weapons
 Cyber attacks
 Explosion
 Civil unrest

Risk Factor Underlying Disasters

A number of factors make it more likely that those affected will have more severe
or longer – lasting stress reactions after disasters. These risk factors are summarized in
a study made.

Severity of exposure

The amount of exposure to the disaster is highly related to risk of future mental
problems. At highest risk are those that go through the disaster themselves. Next are

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those in close contact with the victims. At lower risk of lasting impact are those who only
had indirect exposure, such as news of the severe damage.

Gender and family

Almost always, women or girls suffer more negative effects than do men or boys.
Disaster recovery is more stressful when children are present in the home. Women with
spouses also experience more distress during recovery. Having a family member in the
home who extremely distressed is related to more stress for everyone. Marital stress
has been found to increase after disasters. Also, conflicts between family members or
lack of support in the home make it harder to recover from disasters.

Age

Adults who are in the age range of 40 – 60 are likely to be more distressed after
disasters. The thinking is that if one is in that age range, he/she has more demands
from job and family. Research on how children react to natural disasters is still limited at
this point in time. In general, children show more severe distress after disasters than do
adults. Higher stress in the parents related to worse recovery in children.

Other factors specific to the survivor

Several factors related to a survivor’s background and resources are important for
recovery from disaster. Recovery is worse if survivors:

 Were not functioning well before the disaster

 Have/had no experience dealing with disasters
 Must deal with other stressor after the disaster
 Have poor self-esteem
 Think they are uncared for by others
 Think they have little control over what happens to them
 Lack the capacity to manage stress

Other factors have also been found to predict worse outcomes:

 Bereavement (death of someone close)

 Injury to self or another family member
 Life threat
 Panic, horror, or feelings like that during the disaster
 Being separated from family (especially among youth)

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  Great loss of property
 Displacement (being forced to leave home)

Developing countries

There is a strong body of evidence that these risk factors can be made worse if
the disaster occurs in developing country. Disasters in developing countries, like the
Philippines, have more severe mental health impact than do disasters in developed
countries. This is true even with less serious disasters. For example, natural disasters
are generally thought to be less serious than human-caused. In developing countries,
however, natural disasters have more severe effects than do human-caused disasters
in developed countries.

Low negative social support

The support of others can be both a risk and a resilience factor. Social support
can weaken after disasters. This may due to stress and the need for members of the
support network to get on with their own lives. Sometimes the responses from other
disaster victims rely on for support are negative. For example, someone may play down
their problems, needs, or pain, or expect them to recover more quickly than realistic.
This is strongly linked to long term distress in trauma survivors.

Effects of Natural Disasters on Human Life

The following are common effects of disaster identifies by some studies on

disaster risk and management:

Displaced Populations

One of the most immediate effects of natural disasters is population

displacement. When countries are ravaged by earthquakes or other powerful forces of
nature like floods and super typhoons, many people have to abandon their homes and
seek shelter in other regions. A large influx of refugees can disrupt accessibility of
health care and education, as well as food supplies and clean water.

When Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991, thousands of families in Zambales and

Pampanga were displaced. Their communities were ravaged by lahar flow that turned
these communities into “wilderness”. Several resettlement areas were established to
accommodate those who were displaced. Theses resettlement areas which started as
tent cities for those affected by the volcanic eruption became permanent communities.

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Heath Risks

Aside from the obvious immediate danger that natural disasters present, the secondary
effects can be just as damaging. Severe flooding can result in stagnant water that
allows breeding of waterborne bacteria and malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Dengue fever
is another serious health problem caused by mosquitoes (aegis egypti). Without
emergency relief from international aid organizations and others, death can rise even
after the immediate danger has passed.

Food Scarcity

After natural disaster, food often becomes scarce. Thousands of people around
the world go hungry as a result of destroyed crops and loss of agricultural supplies,
whether it happens suddenly in a storm or gradually in a drought. As a result, food
prices rise, reducing families’ purchasing power and increasing the risk of severe
malnutrition. The impacts of hunger following an earthquake, typhoon or hurricane can
be tremendous, causing lifelong damage to children’s development. One of the serious
“aftershocks” of Super Typhoon Yolanda was there’s no food to eat immediately after
the storm surge. This resulted into looting into some of the stores and supermarkets in
Tacloban City.

Emotional Aftershocks

Natural disasters can be particularly traumatic for young children. Confronted

with scenes of destruction and the deaths of friends and loved ones, many children
develop post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), a serious psychological condition
resulting from extreme trauma. Left untreated, children suffering from PTSD can be
prone to lasting psychological damage and emotional distress.

How and When an Event becomes a Disaster

An event, either human-made or natural, becomes a disaster when it is sudden

or progressive, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses. A
typhoon like Yolanda is a natural phenomenon. It became a disaster due to several
factors: its strength (290 km/hour); the storm surge it brought was sudden and
unexpected; and its devastating effect to human, material, and environment. More than
7,000 people perished. The entire City of Tacloban was literally flattened to the ground.

Another example is Typhoon Ondoy that struck the country in 2009. The
Philippines is visited by typhoons on the average of 20 every year. Hence, typhoons are

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considered as natural events in this country. However, Typhoon Ondoy turned in a
disaster because of the amount of precipitation brought by its torrential rains that lasted
for several days causing floods and flash floods in Metro Manila. Thousands of houses
were submerged in flood water. Hundreds of shelters along river banks and steros were
washed out. Power and water supply were cut off for several weeks. Hundreds of lives
perished.

A television program like WowWowie, hosted by Willie Revillame, a popular

singer-comedian was a common social event in the Philippine entertainment world. It
became so popular that thousands of fans flock the ULTRA (a huge event venue during
that time) to watch the noon time variety show every day, except Sundays. That event
turned out to a disastrous tragedy when there was a human-induced disturbance among
the watching crowd that caused a stampede. May spectators were hurt and some even
died which led to the dissolution of the said TV program.

Action and Research:

Conduct a research or present a paper of some events in the Philippine context

that turned to a disaster. Classify such events whether they are natural or human-made.

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